The New York Times helped MMA get one more step closer to mainstream acceptance Wednesday. The newspaper featured an in-depth profile of fighter Jamal Patterson, who fights in the IFL and faces IFL Light Heavyweight Champion Vladimir Matyushenko Friday night.

A rare article that makes no "human cockfighting" references and doesn't say anything really negative about MMA, cool. It's also a good way to help people understand that many fighters have day jobs too like the rest of us, it's not just a "train and fight" lifestyle.